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SOCIALISM 


is  IT?  *' 


Is  IT  (CHRISTIAN  ? 

SHOULD  THE  CHURCH  TAKE  ANY  INTEREST  IN  IT  ? 


BY 


REV.   J.   E.   SCOTT. 

Deliuered  before  the  Presbytery  of  San  Francisco 

PRINTED  BY  REQUEST. 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 
1895. 


S< 


CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM 


Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 
MATT.  22:  39. 

THE  FIRST  QUESTION. 

What  is  SOCIALISM  ? 

It  is  a  much  abused  word,  often  misused,  often 
misunderstood,  often  feared  and  maligned  without  just 
cause. 

It  may  help  to  a  correct  understanding  of  what 
it  is,  if  we  first  put  away  some  misconceptions  about  it 
and  see  what  it  is  not. 

It  is  not  Anarchy,  nor  Nihilism.  Anarchy  is 
destructive,  Socialism  is  constructive.  Anarchy  seeks 
to  disorganize  society,  Socialism  seeks  to  perfect  social 
organization.  The  one,  in  its  methods,  is  the  direct 
antithesis  of  the  other. 

Socialism  is  not  a  scheme  advocating  an  equal 
division  of  wealth  or  property.  This  absurd  and 

679913 


groundless  notion  has  been  the  source  of  much 
prejudice.  It  has  been  often  lifted  up  in  the  press  and 
in  the  pulpit  as  the  "folly"  of  socialism.  Logic  and 
sarcasm  have  been  hurled  against  it,  but  the  "folly" 
was  a;  Man  of '\strjrfv'.;  .  Even  within  a  few  months,  from 
prominent,  pulpits,  I  heard  this  "folly"  attacked  as 
tlWigh'ijtirvvere'aireil'obj.ection,  and  in  overthrowing  it 
the  impression  was  left  that  Socialism  had  been 
logically  vanquished. 

In  asserting  that  the  equal  division  of  property  is 
no  part  of  a  true  idea  of  Socialism,  I  will  not  ask  you 
to  rely  upon  my  opinion  unsubstantiated.  A  former 
Austrian  Minister  of  Finance,  Prof.  Schaffle,  in  his 
volume  entitled  "The  Quintessence  of  Socialism",  says: 
"  It  is  absolutely  false  to  say  that  Socialism  is  the 
system  of  periodical  redistribution  of  private  posses- 
sions. That  is  absolute  nonsense,  and  every  page  of  a 
socialistic  journal  rightly  condemns  such  an  account 
of  the  matter  as  the  result  of  gross  ignorance."* 

Socialism  is  not  Communism.  Communism  means 
having  all  things  in  common.  It  abolishes  private 
property  and  annihilates  the  distinction  between  meum 
and  tuum.  This  is  not  the  idea  of  Socialism.  Again 
Socialism  does  not  aim  at  the  impossible  end  of 
banishing  the  natural  inequalities  found  among  men. 
It  has  no  affinity  with  any  form  of  violence  or  confisc- 
ation or  class  selfishness.  The  name  has  sometimes 
been  brought  into  disrepute  by  being  associated  with 

*  Pages 30*31. 


wild  and  extravagant  schemes  and  wild  and  extravagant 
men,  but  it  belongs  to  nobler  purposes  and  is  rightfully 
claimed  for  higher  ends. 

These  are  some  of  the  things  that  Socialism  is 
not.  Let  us  now  turn  to  the  positive  side  and  try 
briefly  to  ascertain  what  it  is. 

WHAT  SOCIALISM  IS. 

Socialism  has  primarily  to  do  with  the  practical 
relations  of  man  to  man  in  what  pertains  to  this  life. 
It  considers  the  race,  not  as  a  multitude  of  isolated 
beings,  but  as  a  social  body,  a  body  having  individual 
members,  but  members  knit  together  by  a  common 
life,  common  needs,  common  struggles,  common 
sorrows,  common  desires  and  a  common  reality  of 
dependence  one  upon  another.  Socialism  touches  this 
body  of  human  life  and  interest  mainly  upon  three 
sides  :  the  economic,  the  political  and  the  ethical  or 
moral  sides. 

On  the  economic  side,  Socialism  may  be  defined 
as  a  system  of  cooperation  in  the  chief  productive 
industries,  combined  with  an  equitable  distribution  of 
the  prodticts  of  industry. 

Its  distinctive  idea  is  « 'distributive  justice",  the 
aim  being  to  distribute  the  products  of  labor  according 
to  the  principles  of  right  and  justice.  It  would  dis- 
tribute work  and  the  rewards  of  work  justly. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  idea  of  cooperation  as  it 
exists  fragmentarily  about  us,  but  socialistic  cooper- 


ation  means  more.  It  involves  a  different  theory  of 
society.  The  cooperation  of  to-day  is  conducted  by 
the  union  of  a  few  to  make  up  a  large  atom  in  a 
society  composed  of  disconnected  and  contending 
atoms.  The  combined  atoms  —  or  company —  acting 
cooperatively,  enter  like  individuals  into  the  warfare  of 
competition,  Its  aim  is  individual  profit,  without 
regard  to  what  loss  or  consequences  may  come  to 
others.  Socialistic  cooperation  is  adjusted  to  that 
theory  of  society  which  regards  it  as  an  organic  whole, 
in  which  all  the  members  work  together,  in  their  varied 
spheres,  for  the  good  of  all ;  and  the  individual  finds 
his  profit  in  the  profit  of  all. 

Socialistic  cooperation  means  that  all  shall  take 
an  active  part  in  the  necessary  operations  of  life.  It 
means  that  one  class  shall  not  be  required  to  do  all 
the  work  while  another  class,  because  of  some  accident 
of  birth,  or  fortune,  or  fraud,  does  all  the  resting  and 
eats  all  the  fruit.  It  means,  Paul's  Christian  doctrine 
of  labor,  that  if  a  man  will  not  work,  he  must  exercise 
the  privilege  of  fasting.  It  means  that  the  conflict 
between  labor  and  capital  shall  be  peaceably  and  per- 
manently settled,  by  making  them  one,  joined  by  the 
bond  of  a  common  interest;  and  that  conflict  can 
never  be  lastingly  settled  on  any  other  basis.  It 
means  the  breaking  down  of  caste  and  the  false 
assumptions  of  superiority  and  greatness,  and  the 
substitution  for  them  of  the  Gospel  principle  that  he  is 
great  who  serves,  and  the  greatest  is  he  who  serves 
best.  Socialistic  cooperation  is  illustrated  to  some 


extent  by  the  organization  of  the  Christian  Church  to 
accomplish,  by  combined  effort,  the  work  of  extending 
the  Christian  religion  and  morality.  It  is  illustrated  in 
the  common  school  system,  in  which  society  carries  on 
jointly  the  work  of  education  ;  in  the  army  and  navy 
for  common  defense ;  in  the  work  of  the  post  office, 
and  ere  long  we  trust  it  will  be  illustrated  by  the 
ownership  of  the  railroads,  telegraphs,  telephones 
and  mines,  and  other  universal  necessities,  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people. 

We  are  familiar,  too,  with  the  methods,  or  rather, 
the  results  of  the  distribution  of  the  fruits  of  labor 
under  the  existing  social  order.  It  is  needless  to  dwell 
here  upon  the  inequalities  of  condition,  upon  the 
growing  wealth  and  growing  want,  which  so  startlingly 
characterize  our  day  and  our  economic  system. 

There  are  few  now  who  do  not  assent  to  the 
declaration  of  Rev.  R.  Heber  Newton,  in  his  "Social 
Studies",  that  "colossal  fortunes  are  always  of  doubtful 
legitimacy,  if  not  of  open  illegitimacy,  and  are  therefore 
unnatural.  They  are  the  system  of  private  production, 
a  premonition  of  decay,  and  call  for  the  scythe.  " 

Whatever  else  our  economic  system  may  have,  it 
has  not  the  element  of  just  distribution,  it  has  not 
"distributive  justice". 

ESSENTIAL  ELEMENTS  OF  ALL  PHASES. 

In  its  voluminous  literature,  Socialism  appears  in 
many  phases  ;  but  whether  we  consider  the  paternal 


_  8  — 

Socialism  of  Owen,  the  state  Socialism  of  Bismarck, 
the  international  Socialism  of  Karl  Marz,  the  Christian 
Socialism  of  Maurice,  the  evolutionary  Socialism  of 
the  Fabian  Essays,  or  the  national  Socialism  advocated 
in  "Looking  Backward",  the  essential  ideas  which 
underly  and  give  vitality  to  them  all  are  these  : 

(a)  Cooperation,  i.  e.  man  working  with  man  for  a 
common  end,  in  contrast  with  man  working  against 
man  for  private  gain  ; 

(^)  A  just  apportionment  of  the  fruits  of  toil  and 
the  common  bounties  of  nature. 

IS  IT  CHRISTIAN  ? 

My  chief  purpose,  at  this  time,  is  to  bring  the 
ethical  side  of  the  subject  into  view.  In  fact  every 
economic  question  speedily  discloses  a  moral  question. 
CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM  is  the  title  of  our  theme.  Is  the 
title  justifiable?  If  it  be  then  it  is  of  emphatic  impor- 
tance to  the  Church  and  to  the  Ministry  of  the  Church 
of  Christ. 

Socialism  is  a  word  that  not  only  has  an  economic 
meaning ;  it  expresses  also  the  fact  of  the  existence  of 
a  momentous  movement  among  men.  No  one  doubts 
the  existence  of  a  "Social  Question",  a  question  as 
wide  in  its  agitation  as  the  race  of  civilized  man,  a 
question  full  of  vitality,  instinct  with  activity  and 
human  hope. 

It  is  this  question  of  which  a  distinguished 
minister  said  : 


"This  movement  which  is  now  mounting  into  a 
tidal  wave  of  reform  or  revolution,  according  as  it  finds 
yielding  channels  or  resisting  dikes,  is  the  cresting  of 
a  billowy  agitation,  which  has  been  long  gathering 
force  in  the  'vasty  deep'  of  humanity." 

The  social  question  rises  from  great  human  needs 
and  human  wrongs,  and  if  Socialism  is,  as  is  claimed, 
"applied  Christianity",  then  Socialism,  in  its  spirit  and 
end,  is  the  answer  to  the  social  question. 

Is  Socialism  Christian  ? 

TESTIMONY  OF  VARIOUS  STUDENTS  OF  THE  SUBJECT 

In  looking  for  an  answer,  let  us  hear  in  few  words, 
what  some  of  the  best  writers  on  and  exponents  of 
Socialism  have  said  : 

Rev.  Dr.  Behrends ,  in  his  "  Socialism  and 
Christianity",*  referring  to  the  historic  origin  of  the 
Socialistic  idea,  says  : 

"The  ancient  (Mosaic)  commonwealth  was  to  be  a 
democratic  theocracy,  a  fraternal  community,  under 
God's  paternal  guard  and  care.  Its  citizens  were  not  to 
regard  themselves  as  'competitors  in  an  open  market', 
but  as  members  of  a  great  and  loving  household ;  and 
in  the  two  underlying  principles  of  their  social  compact, 
the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
the  New  Testament  idea  of  the  kingdom,  agrees  with 
that  of  the  ancient  commonwealth." 

*  Page  28. 


—    10   — 

Emile  de  Laveleye,  the  gifted  author  of  a  critical 
History  of  Socialism, — a  devout  Christian — says  with 
emphasis  : 

"  It  was  from  Jtidea  that  there  arose  the  most 
persistent  protests  against  inequality  and  the  most 
ardent  aspirations  after  justice  that  have  ever  raised 
humanity  out  of  the  actual  into  the  ideal.  It  is  thence 
has  come  the  revolution  that  still  moves  the  world".  — 
The  same  author  in  his  "Socialism  of  To-day",  says: 
"fs  it  not  remarkable'\  that  Christian  countries  are 
precisely  those  which  have  evolved  socialism?  What  is 
the  reason  of  that:  It  is  because  Socialism  has  its  root 
in  Christianity.  In  reality  Socialism  springs  from  the 
sentiment  of  the  revolt  produced  by  the  sight  of  the 
contrast  between  the  existing  economical  constitution  of 
society  and  a  certain  Christian  ideal  of  justice  and 
equality.  Socialism  and  Christianity  both  aspire  to  so 
change  things  that  justice  shall  reign  everywhere.  If 
the  existing  inequality  of  conditions  is  permanent  and 
necessary^  then  to  spread  the  Gospel,  to  open  schools, 
to  establish  a  printing  press,  to  extend  the  suffrage, 
are  so  many  ways  to  attack  the  social  order".  In  the 
introduction  he  says  :  "Every  Christian  who  under- 
stands and  earnestly  accepts  the  teaching  of  his  Master, 
is  at  heart  a  Socialist;  and  every  Socialist,  whatever  be 
his  hatred  against  all  religion,  bears  within  himself  an 
unconscious  Christianity."  —  In  "  Primitive  Property" 
he  declares  that  "If  Christianity  were  taught  and  un- 
derstood, conformably  to  the  spirit  of  its  founder,  the 
existing  social  organization  could  not  last  a  day". 


—   II   — 

JAMES  RUSSEL  LOWELL,  in  the  N.  A.  Review, 
says:  "Socialism  means  in  short,  the pratical application 
of  Christianity  to  life." 

Webb,  in  his  "Socialism  in  England"  enumerates 
three  prominent  features  of  Christianity  when  he  says 
that  on  its  ethical  side  Socialism  expresses  the  real 
recognition  of  Fraternity,  the  universal  obligation  of 
personal  service,  and  the  subordination  of  individual 
ends  to  the  common  good." 

Thomas  Kirkup,  in  his  "Inquiry  into  Socialism", 
says:  "Considered  as  a  principle  and  theory  of  social 
and  economic  life,  Socialism  is  marked  by  the  entire 
harmony  and  even  identity  of  its  moral  spirit  with  that 
of  Christianity"  *  Fraternity  is  one  of  the  precepts  of 
Christianity,  but  what  is  the  meaning  of  human  brother- 
hood when  the  existing  arrangements  of  property  are 
such  as  to  make  the  word  a  mockery." 

Prof.  Graham,  of  Queen's  College,  Belfast,  in  his 
"Socialism  New  and  Old",  says:  "The  principles  of  the 
Gospel  and  of  Socialism  are  one  and  the  same,  and  if 
the  Socialists  only  knew  it  and  made  the  most  of  the 
fact,  it  would  constitute  the  strongest  plank  in  their 
platform". 

Philips  Brooks  says:  "Men  are  coming  to  see 
that  beyond  and  above  this  individualism  there  is 
something  higher,  a  mutualism.  Sometimes  it  is  called 
Socialism,  sometimes  communism,  applying  to  this  or 
that  plan  for  attaining  the  end  sought.  Don't  you  see 
that  in  this  mutualism  the  world  becomes  an  entirely 
different  thing  ?  This  new  life,  where  service  is  the 


universal  law  is  but  the  coming  of  the  life  of  God  upon 
Man;  the  coming  into  the  inlets  of  our  life  of  the  great 
ocean  life  that  lies  beyond." 

These  quotations  might  be  multiplied,  but  enough 
has  been  given  to  show  that  men  who  have  made 
special  study  of  the  subject,  agree  in  the  belief  that 
the  spirit  and  aim  of  Socialism,  so  far  as  it  reaches 
into  practical  life,  is  radically  Christian. 

We  often  learn  the  character  of  things  by  compar- 
ing or  contrasting  them  with  their  opposites.  The 
opposite  of  a  system  morally  unchristian  must  be  a 
system  morally  Christian.  The  opposite  of  the  system 
of  cooperation  is  competition. 

Competition  is  the  basal  principle  of  society  as  it 
now  exists.  The  tenacity  with  which  men  have  held 
to  this  principle  is  one  of  the  anomalie^  of  rational  life. 
A  more  irrational,  baneful,  destructive,  debasing  and 
sinful  system  could  never  be  concocted  by  all  the 
powers  of  darkness  combined.  Yet  God  causes  even 
the  wrath  of  men  to  praise  him,  and  it  is  true  that 
material  good  has  come  in  connection  with,  or  it  may 
be  in  spite  of  the  wickednesses  of  competition.  But 
because  man  prospers  for  a  time  in  the  use  of  iniquitous 
methods,  it  does  not  make  iniquitous  methods  right 
methods,  nor  prove  that  he  would  not  have  been  more 
prosperous  with  right  methods. 

The  old  New  England  home-life  on  the  farm  has 
not  yet  faded  from  all  our  memories.  The  father  and 
mother  and  a  goodly  number  of  sons  and  daughters, 
were  a  small  commonwealth.  Together  they  carried  on 


—   13  — 

the  varied  industries  of  the  home  and  farm,  embracing 
what  to-day  constitutes  a  dozen  distinct  branches  of 
labor.  The  farm  was  the  property  of  the  family. 
Tho'  legally  it  stood  in  the  name  of  the  father,  each 
member  felt  a  sense  of  ownership.  The  instruments  of 
labor  belonged  to  the  family.  The  welfare  of  each 
was  in  the  welfare  of  all.  As  all  prospered,  so  each 
one  prospered.  They  had  a  miniature  cooperative 
state.  They  were  a  Socialistic  community.  They  bore 
each  other's  burdens.  They  lived  in  peace. 

Let  us  change  the  method  of  the  family  life,  animate 
it  with  the  spirit  of  private  enterprise,  make  it  individual- 
istic, competitive.  What  is  the  result  ?  One  of  the  boys 
is  stronger,  shrewder,  more  unscrupulous  than  the  rest. 
He  can  out-work  and  out-wit  the  others.  He  is  able 
to  appropriate  to  himself  the  lion's  share  of  the  profits. 
There  is  strife  and  bitterness.  The  weaker  members 
are  driven  to  the  wall.  They  must  work  for  wages  or 
starve.  In  due  time,  the  old  people,  unable  to  work, 
become  subjects  of  charity  or  wend  their  way  to  the 
poor-house,  for  competition  knows  no  mercy,  it  admits 
of  no  sense  of  brotherhood  or  kinship.  Its  mottoes  are 
"Business  is  business"  and  "Every  man  for  himself." 

I  need  not  stop  to  ask  which  method  in  the  family 
is  Christian.  "Waste,  antagonism,  injustice,  oppression, 
these  are  the  synonyms  of  competition*;  waste,  antagon- 
ism, injustice,  oppression,  the  synonyms  of  wickedness 
too."  Competition  is  wrong,  because  it  "develops 
servility,  hatred,  untruthfulness,  cunning,  trickery, 
pride,  oppression,  everything  but  brotherly  love."  "It 


—   14  — 

giVes  activity  and  growth  to  all  that  is  hard,  combative, 
unscrupulous  and  unsympathetic  in  man,  and  hinders 
the  development  of  helpfulness,  truthfulness  and  public 
spirit.  Its  tendency  is  to  undo  all  that  religion,  ethics 
and  law  are  trying  to  do  for  the  ennoblement  of  man- 
kind." It  is  the  mother  of  monopoly,  the  breeder  of 
plutocracies.  In  spirit,  it  is  divisive  and  disintegrating. 
It  corrupts  governments,  engenders  revolutions  and 
ends  in  anarchy.  In  the  words  of  Prof.  Parsons  (Arena), 
"competition  is  the  insanity  of  the  past  and  the  colossal 
crime  of  the  present." 

To  all  this  the  spirit  of  cooperation  is  antipodal. 
Under  a  true  Socialistic  order,  the  text :  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  conveys  a  significance  of 
possible  realization.  But  JIOTV  can  one  love  his  neigh- 
bor as  himself,  when  he  must  fight  with  that  neighbor 
for  bread  and  butter  ?  As  Washington  Gladden  says 
("Tools  and  the  Man")  :  "  The  principle  of  competition 
is  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest ;  it  is  the  law  of 
plants  and  brutes,  and  brutish  men,  but  it  is  not  the 
highest  law  of  civilized  society.  That  the  law  of  Christ 
is  the  law  of  cooperation  seems. to  me  very  plain." 

HAS  THE  CHURCH  ANY  INTEREST  IN   IT  ? 

We  have  thus  far  attempted  to  set  forth  the  essential 
elements  of  Socialism,  and  to  establish  the  justice  of 
calling  it  CHRISTIAN  SOCIALISM.  Let  us  now  turn  briefly 
to  some  considerations  of  the  subject  relating  more 
especially  to  the  church. 


Christian  Socialism,  like  Christianity,  is  emphatic- 
ally the  cause  of  the  poor  man.  It  is  the  emancipation 
of  labor.  It  is  good  tidings,  it  is  the  dawn  of  a  new 
hope  and  new  possibilities  to  the  toilers  of  every  land. 
That  is  the  reason  the  common  people  hear  its  voice 
gladly ;  and  that  may  be  the  reason  why  not  many 
mighty,  not  many  rulers,  not  many  who  dwell  in 
palaces  and  revel  in  luxury,  hear  this  call  to  common 
service  and  common  brotherhood. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  Church  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  forms  of  social  organization,  that 
economic  conditions  are  outside  of  its  mission.  But 
the  Church  can  not  safely  ignore  the  environments,  the 
material  side  of  the  lives  of  those  whom  it  seeks  to 
renew  in  character,  and  to  build  up  into  a  kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  peace. 

The  Church  is  everywhere  endeavoring  to  solve  the 
problem  of  how  to  reach  the  masses.  It  sees  with 
anxiety  the  masses,  in  lengthening  processions,  going 
by  its  doors.  Is  there  nothing  in  this  subject  which 
looks  towards  a  possible,  or  at  least,  a  partial  solution 
of  this  problem  ? 

A  few  years  since  the  United  States  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Labor  and  Education  invited  Rev.  Heber 
Newton  to  come  before  it  and  give  his  views  on  the 
''Labor  Question".  After  reading  a  paper  containing 
his  views,  the  chairman  said  to  him  : 

"Men  popularly  known  as  leaders  in  the  labor 
movement  and  organizations,  have  been  before  the 
committee,  and  many  of  them  have  given  testimony  to 


-   16  — 

the  effect,  that  evangelical  Christianity  is  rapidly  losing 
its   hold    upon    the    masses    of  wage   workers   in   this 
country.      I    would    like    to    know    your   views,    and 
whether  you  think  that  is  the  fact." 
The  answer  was  : 

"I  fear  there  is  too  much  truth  in  this  view." 
Q.  "How  do  you  explain  that  fact?" 
A.  "I  explain  it  to  my  own  mind,  partly  by  the 
intellectual  movement  of  our  age,  and  partly  by  the 
social  movement  of  our  age,  from  both  which  move- 
ments the  evangelical  churches  have  held  back." 
Among  other  things  in  his  reply  he  said  : 
"A  sense  of  wrong  is  a  mighty  strong  eye-wash  ; 
it  will  clear  out  a  lot  of  sophisms  which  blind  men's 
eyes.  The  well-to-do  classes  are  not  quick  to  see  how 
completely  the  Christian  Church  has  forgotten  its 
Master's  Gospel  and  become  the  Church  of  respectability 
and  wealth  and  'society';  how  it  has  accepted  the  anti- 
christian  dogmas  of  the  older  political  economists  and 
in  so  doing,  really  turned  traitor  to  the  ethics  of  Jesus 
Christ.  But  the  working  man  sees  all  this  quickly 
enough,  his  eye-sight,  as  I  said,  being  sharpened  by 
the  sense  of  wrong.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  he  turns 
away  from  a  church  that  has  no  better  Gospel  than 
laissez  faire,  no  better  brotherhood  than  the  selfish 
strife  of  competition,  no  kingdom  of  God  here  upon 
earth,  but  only  one  up  in  the  skies  ;  a  Church  which 
baptizes  the  kingdom  of  Satan  with  Christian  names, 
and  asks  the  suffering  masses  of  men  to  accept  it  as  the 
will  of  the  good  Father  in  heaven  ?  The  only  wonder 


is  that  in  such  an  apostacy  from  its  Lord's  life  and 
spirit,  the  church  has  kept  any  hold  upon  the  working 
men". 

Is  this  language  too  strong  ?  Is  it  not  a  fact  that 
the  command  to  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  is  not  in 
harmony  with  the  economic  conditions  in  which  we 
live  ?  And  yet  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  accepts, 
endorses  and  defends  these  conditions.  Can  we  ever 
hope  to  reach  the  masses  until  this  inconsistency  is  put 
away  ?  Well-to-do  business  men  listen  with  composure 
and  approval  to  sermons  on  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart".  That  is  a  lofty  theme, 
high  in  the  spiritual  realms  of  tho't  and  life.  It  brings 
little  suggestion  of  earth  or  earthly  things,  but  when 
the  second  text,  which  is  :  "like  unto  it, — thy  neighbor 
as  thyself"  is  taken  up,  a  sense  of  uneasiness,  and 
weariness  steals  over  the  cushioned  sanctuary.  The 
preacher  himself  is  often  perplexed  to  know  just  how 
to  manage  the  subject.  An  impression  lurks  in  his 
mind,  and  creeps  over  the  pews,  that  something  not 
designed  for  much  practical  obedience,  on  earth,  must 
have  been  meant  by  the  text.  The  feeling  is,  it  may 
do  for  heaven  where  the  conditions  will  be  more 
favorable,  but  an  attempt  to  put  it  into  actual  practice 
here  and  now,  would  simply  take  all  the  life  out  of 
business,  and  make  financial  success  an  impossibility. 

Is  it  a  wonder  that  men  who  work  and  men  who 
can  find  no  work,  the  ragged  and  wretched  and  hungry 
multitudes  turn  away  from  the  church  where  members 
call  Christ  their  Savior,  but  do  not  believe  in  the  prac- 


—   i8  — 

ticability  of  the  Golden  Rule  in  the  world's  business  and 
social  life  ?  Is  it  a  wonder  that  not  only  the  poor,  but 
tho'tful  people  of  every  grade  are  asking  the  question 
" If  the  precepts  of  Christ  will  not  work  in  business, 
which  makes  up  so  large  a  part  of  life,  will  they  work 
anywhere?  If  I  find  it  impossible  to  love  my  neighbor 
as  myself  in  my  business  relations  with  him,  why 
should  I  pretend  to  love  him  at  all  ?  "  The  economic 
side  of  Christianity  is  by  no  means  all  of  Christianity  ; 
but  if  men  see  Christianity  a  failure  on  the  economic 
side,  can  they  fail  to  lose  confidence  in  it  on  all  sides? 

There  are  multitudes  of  unselfish  faithful,  loyal 
Christian  souls  in  the  church.  They  long  and  pray  for 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God's  righteousness  on 
earth  ;  and  they  wonder  why  it  comes  so  slowly. 
They  want  to  see  souls  converted,  but  they  forget  that 
the  ears  are  deaf  to  other  sounds  when  the  stomach  is 
empty.  They  forget  or  perchance  do  not  know  that 
against  the  wheels  of  the  chariot-car  of  Christ's  kingdom 
the  heavy  brakes  of  antagonistic,  social  and  economic 
environments  are  set. 

To  what  conclusion  then  shall  we  come  at  the 
close  of  a  necessarily  imperfect  consideration  of  a 
subject  so  far-reaching  ? 

From  out  the  night  of  centuries  past,  the  race  has 
suddenly,  as  it  were,  awakened  to  a  consciousness  of 
its  organic  unity.  We  hear  from  every  quarter  of  the 
globe  where  throngs  of  thinking,  suffering  humanity  are 
found,  one  voice  of  discontent  and  protest.  With  each 
advance  of  knowledge  and  science,  the  voice  has  grown 


-   i9  — 

clearer  and  more  articulate,  till  now  it  utters  no  longer 
a  confused  jargon  of  restless  muttered  anguish  and 
passion,  but  it  speaks  as  man  to  man,  with  a  voice  of 
no  uncertain  sound.  That  voice  declares  "that  God  is 
no  respecter  of  persons,  that  in  the  measuring  out  of 
His  bounty  there  is  no  partiality."  It  proclaims,  that 
mans  inhumanity  to  man  is  the  fountain  of  earth's 
slaveries  and  tyrannies,  and  the  woes  of  want ;  and 
therefore,  for  the  means  necessary  to  life,  and  the 
opportunities  necessary  to  the  pursuit  of  happiness  and 
higher  manhood,  it  demands,  not  alms,  not  pity,  but 
"distributive  justice".  This  demand  is  the  source  of 
Christian  Socialism. 

To  this  demand  an  opposing  answer  has  beeri 
made  in  every  age.  That  answer  is  in  the  words : 
"Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  From  Cain's  day  to 
the  present,  in  one  form  or  another,  the  same  answer 
has  been  repeated.  It  is  voiced  by  the  pride  of  life, 
the  spirit  of  caste,  the  aristocracy  of  wealth,  the  com- 
petitions of  business  ;  and  the  last  official  reutterance 
of  the  murderer's  question  came  from  the  halls  of 
Congress,  when,  to  the  appeal  of  the  Industrial  Army, 
for  help  to  help  themselves,  the  answer  went;  "It  is 
not  legal  for  us  to  provide  means  by  which  our  brethren 
in  need  may  help  themselves  to  bread." 

Can  the  church  of  Christ  longer  uphold  an 
economic  and  social  system,  that  rests  on  this  inter- 
rogatory of  the  first  fratricide?  Can  the  church  of  God 
continue  to  pray  "Thy  kingdom  come  on  earth" — the 
kingdom  of  righteousness — when  the  whole  spirit  and 


—    20    — 

foundation  of  business  life  is  to  foster  the  selfish  an- 
tagonism of  the  kingdom  of  Satan  ?  Do  our  brethren 
who  tell  us  the  business  of  the  Church  is  to  save  souls 
and  not  to  meddle  with  social  questions,  believe  what 
they  say  ?  'Yes,  doubtless ;  but,  fortunately  for  the 
Church,  they  do  not  follow  their  own  rule.  Do  they 
not  build  church  edifices  and  make  them  attractive  ? 
Do  they  not  try  to  have  good  music  and  to  make  the 
social  atmosphere  of  the  church  inviting  ?  Do  they  not 
try  to  banish  saloons  and  slums  ?  Are  not  these 
"social  questions"  ?  Are  they  not  attempts  to  make 
the  environment  harmonize  with  and  help  on  towards 
the  end  sought,  as  Christ  did  when  he  drove  out  the 
money  changers  ? 

The  logic  of  these  brethren  was  the  bulwark  of 
American  slavery.  It  will  not  stand. 

Christian  Socialism  can  not  be  ignored.  Every 
Christian  should  give  it  a  sympathetic  hearing,  and 
every  teacher  of  Christianity  should  give  it  a  careful 
study, — not  as  sceptics  study  the  Bible  to  find  out  what 
may  be  said  against  it, — but  to  learn  what  widened 
application  of  the  Gospel  may  be  in  it.  Christianity 
has  hitherto  been  applied  to  individuals ;  but  it  is 
adapted  to  a  kingdom,  and  a  kingdom  means  organized 
society  and  a  state. 

Surely  there  is  incentive  to  study  this  subject,  in 
the  hope  we  have  of  a  redeemed  earth,  in  the  waning 
progress  of  the  present,  and  the  failures  of  the  past. 
For  eighteen  centuries,  thro'  good  report  and  evil 
report,  the  Church  has  taught  the  Gospel  of  the  king- 


21    

dom  to  the  children  of  men.  Many  saints  have  been 
gathered  to  shine  as  stars  in  the  heavenly  firmament. 
But  if  Christ  were  to  come  to-day  and  look  upon  the 
children  of  a  common  Heavenly  Father,  with  all  their 
pomp  on  one  hand,  and  all  their  wretchedness  on  the 
other,  would  there  not  be  truth  of  startling  reality  in 
the  poet's  "Parable"  : 


Said  Christ  our  Lord  :     "I  will  go  and  see 
How  the  men,  my  brethren,  believe  in  me". 
He  passed  not  again,  thro'  the  gate  of  birth, 
But  made  himself  known  to  the  children  of  earth. 

Then  said  the  chief  priests,  and  rulers  and  kings, 
''Behold,  now,  the  Giver  of  all  good  things  ; 
Go  to,  let  us  welcome  with  pomp  and  state 
Him  who  alone  is  mighty  and  great." 

With  carpets  of  gold  the  ground  they  spread, 

Wherever  the  Son  of  man  should  tread, 

And  in  palace  chambers,  lofty  and  rare, 

They  lodged  him,  and  served  him  with  kingly  fare. 

Great  organs  surged  thro'  arches  dim, 
Their  jubilent  floods  in  praise  of  him  ; 
And  in  church  and  palace  and  judgement  hall 
He  saw  his  image  high  over  all. 

But  still,  wherever  his  steps  they  led, 
The  Lord  in  sorrow  bent  down  his  head, 
And  from  under  the  heavy  foundation  stones, 
The  Son  of  Mary  heard  bitter  growns. 


—    22    — • 

And  in  church  and  palace  and  judgement  hall 
He  marked  great  fissures  that  rent  the  wall, 
And  opened  wider  and  yet  more  wide 
As  the  living  foundation  heaved  and  sighed 

"Have  ye  founded  your  thrones  and  altars,  then, 
On  the  bodies  and  souls  of  living  men  ? 
And  think  ye  that  building  shall  endure, 
Which  shelters  the  noble  and  crushes  the  poor  ? 

With  gates  of  silver  and  bars  of  gold, 

You  have  fenced  my  sheep  from  their  Father's  fold. 

I  have  heard  the  dropping  of  their  tears 

In  heaven  these  eighteen  hundred  years." 

"O  Lord  and  Master,  not  ours  the  guilt, 
We  build  but  as  our  fathers  built  ; 
Behold  thine  images,  how  they  stand, 
Sovereign  and  sole  thro'  all  our  land. 

"Our  task  is  hard,  with  sword  and  flame, 
To  hold  thine  earth  forever  the  same, 
And  with  sharp  crooks  of  steel  to  keep 
Still,  as  thou  leftest  them,  thy  sheep." 

Then  Christ  sought  out  an  artisan, 
A  low-browed,  stunted,  haggard  man, 
And  a  motherless  girl,  whose  fingers  thin, 
Pushed  from  her  faintly,  want  and  sin. 

These  set  he  in  the  midst  of  them, 
And  as  tl\ey  drew  back  their  garment  hem, 
For  fear  of  defilement  :   "Lo,  here,"  said  he, 
"The  images  ye  have  made  of  me  !  " 


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